Presidential elections will hinder the talks: Erk

Presidential elections will hinder the talks: Erk

General Secretary of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Kutlay Erk, during a programme on BRT TV, evaluated the latest developments on the Cyprus problem, Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Yeni Duzen’ reports.

He explained that he does not expect anything from the ongoing negotiation process, adding that he thinks that TRNC President Dervis Eroglu will be a candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, so he will not make any unexpected moves during the Cyprus talks.

Erk also said that they know that Eroglu does not support a solution based on the UN criteria, adding that he did not expect the separate meetings to be held by Eroglu and the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to assist in gaining new momentum for the ongoing talks.

Erk stressed that the only way progress could be achieved in the talks would be by holding the meeting on the island. He pointed out, however, that the upcoming presidential elections is the biggest obstacle in achieving this.

Saying that the Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades is no different from Eroglu, Erk said that the Greek Cypriot side, as usual, chooses to focus on less important issues such as confidence building measures – “let’s talk about Varosha”, rather than achieving progress on the substantive issues.

Referring to the water project, Erk said that his party’s position is that all the authorities which provide services, such as electricity, water, transportation and telecommunication, should be managed by the state.

He added that they are against privatisation. For this reason, he noted that the management of the water coming from Turkey should be under the administration of the Water Affairs Department and the local authorities.